


Into the Woods

by Swine



Category: Paranatural (Webcomic)
Genre: Good Day, I don't expect people to even read it honestly!, I don't normally write this badly by the way, M/M, Small Isaac bonding I suppose?, This was admittedly a bit rushed, and I'm sorry you have the misfortune of reading this, first fic, if you do manage to read it somehow then thank you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-25 23:35:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9852041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swine/pseuds/Swine
Summary: The Activity Club ventures into the forest with another mission at hand. They would find a spirit with green spectral energy for reasons unknown. During their mission however, Max runs into a familiar face.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A Forewarning! Some things may not make sense, mainly the action scenes honestly. I made this with no intention of people reading it, but later i shrugged and said "to archiveofourown". I hope you somehow manage to like this!

            It had been three days or so since he had moved to this dumb town. Yet way too much had happened. Of course, he shouldn’t go into specifics, but all you need to know is that he can see ghosts. He didn’t really know how or why it worked, but nonetheless he could. Something about being both alive and dead? A zombie, but that was beside the point. The point was that it had only been three days and too much has happened.

            Max had moved into Mayview in hopes of getting a better outlook on things, but mainly because his dad wanted to see the town after so many years of staying in Baxborough. Once he entered the town however, he was able to see ghosts. Pretty simple really, but the thing that confused Max more than the ghosts were the people living in the town. Not one single person he had met on his first day there was normal, not even the teachers. He wasn’t complaining, as it was better seeing a little excitement rather than the same boring old kids repeatedly.

            When someone managed to figure out that he could see ghosts, he was recruited into the “activity club” which in itself has been an enigma to the school for years. The club mainly fooled around, and did ghost related things like, as Max likes to put it, “nerdy ghostbusting”. He wasn’t entirely wrong, as the activity club would pacify angry spirits, focus on controlling spectral energy (which is another convoluted topic entirely), or simply just mess around. He had been in this club for not even a full week yet, and he desperately wishes he could say, “I hate this club and the people in it”, but in fact, it was quite the opposite. He would never tell them that though as it would ruin his brooding “cool guy” persona.

            The fourth day in Mayview comes around, and his second mission had started. Of course due to how _well_ his first mission had gone, which involved a ghost train, weird cat-dog spirit things, a blind lady, and almost dying, he had politely declined with a “heck no!” but Isabel had encouraged him to go somehow. They would travel into the woods to find a spirit with green spectral energy for reasons their teacher, Mr. Spender, would fail to explain. Or supposedly, in Isaac’s case, “clear the forest out of dangerous spirits”. Isaac wasn’t stupid. He probably knew that he was being lied to. He didn’t say much for some reason. Even in the car ride, he didn’t make a sound.

The car ride wasn’t too long, maybe about ten minutes, but it was late and the car’s small bumps and turns nearly lulled everyone to sleep. It was not long until they woke up completely by the car’s abrupt stop. Sleep, knowing how days usually went in this insane town, was not going to come for a while. The kids had gotten out of the car and stretched as they peered over the looming woods with anticipation. Spender had started to tread towards the forest, and without hesitation, the kids followed suit.

            “All righty kids!” Spender said. What a nerd. “Like our last mission, we’ll split up.” The tree’s leaves shuddered as the wind fluttered past the group.

            “Because that worked so well last time…” Max muttered. Isabel elbowed him in the side, but let out a faint chuckle.

            “Again, we’re trying to clear out the forest of any spirits that seem dangerous.” He explained. Isaac scoffed. Max desperately wanted to give him a look that would tell him “hey man, stop being rude.”, but he could understand where he was coming from. Isaac was kept in the dark for reasons unknown, and Max wishes that he could tell him what was really going on, but it seemed to be a serious issue. He simply kept his mouth shut.

            Isabel poked Max’s side and gave a determined look. It was obvious they would be paired together like last time. Max was the newest kid while Isabel was the oldest one. They would do just as fine as they did before.

            “Isaac, Max, you two will pair up. Isabel and Ed will come with me.” The kids had all stared at the teacher, confusion clear on their faces. “This is what you wanted last time, right?” An uncomfortable silence came over them, until Isaac sighed.

            “Yeah okay.” He had said crossing his arms. “I needed to talk to him anyway.” _‘Oh good.’_ Max thought to himself. He peered over at Isabel. She glanced at Ed for a second, and gave a small sigh. Ed looked heartbroken. He couldn’t help but feel bad for the guy, even if he was weird sometimes. Admittedly most of the time.

            “Go team!” Spender struck a pose; seemingly oblivious to the awkward situation he had put his kids.

            “ _Read the mood_ …” They had all muttered. And they were off. Isabel, Ed, and Spender had continued forward, while Max and Isaac had broken off to the left.

            Max had expected Isaac to keep up with his word on wanting to talk to him, but the search for rampaging spirits had been a lot quieter than he had expected. The only thing Max could pay attention to was the crunching of the leaves and sticks as he and Isaac continued forward. Small spirits would occasionally zoom past them. Max, not forgetting the reason he was dragged out here in the first place, kept his eye out for any spirits that appeared to have green spectral energy radiating off them.

            “…How do you do it?” Isaac asked.

            “Wha…?” Max said dumbfounded.

            “It’s been, what, four days?” Isaac stared as his hands, blue spectral energy glowing from them. “And yet, everyone absolutely loves _you_.” Max flushed a bit.

            “Yeah, well-“  
            “Yet here _I_ am still the rookie at the bottom. I still have to climb my way to the top, while you can get there in less than a second.” They had stopped walking at this point; Max had awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. He couldn’t say that he didn’t expect this. He was unaware of the fact that he had felt that way, and now his guilt grew deeper in the pit of his stomach after finally hearing those words said aloud.

            “Listen, I” Then suddenly a scream rang out. 

            “What the heck was that?!” Max yelled clearly started.

            “Oh jeez I think it came from behind us?” Isaac panicked.

            “No way dude that was straight ahead!”

            “Ugh whatever, you go ahead! I’m checking back there!” Isaac bolted in the opposite direction.

            “What the – wait what?!”

            “Just go!” Isaac had yelled, already paces away from Max. He groaned, and ran in the opposite direction.

            He ran and ran trying to look for any signs of life, (or death) that needed help. Twisting and turning, the forest’s trees seemed to stretch higher the farther he ran in, and it slowly grew darker as the moonlight shone less and less through the trees, its long branches closing together. His legs had started to give up, as well as himself. Max stopped for a breather.

            “…Dumb Isaac… Good nature…” He grumbled. Taking a glance at the unfamiliar scenery, it finally seemed to occur to him that he was lost. “Oh _goooood!_ Great! Exactly what I wanted! Someone kill me now, because I’m having the time of my life!” A tree branch had cracked behind him.

            “I-I didn’t mean it…”  He whimpered. Panic started to swell through him. He couldn’t see his hand in front of his own face, not to mention he was horrible at fighting compared to the rest of the group. Yes, he could do cool flips, but not in the flipping dark – pun intended. “Hah, don’t panic Max just uh…? Watch your back!” He quickly turned around facing the darkness clinging onto his bat for dear life.

            “God what am I even supposed to be looking at I can’t see _anything._ ” Backing up he desperately tried to stay calm and look for a way out. Maybe he was over exaggerating. It might have been nothing but a rabbit! On the other hand, maybe it was the dead trying to warn him that he was going to die soon. Oh no now he’s freaking himself out. Max felt something brush his back. Yelling, Max swung his bat at what seemed like nothing. Luckily, it seems like he had hit something. He then heard a thump, and a loud “OW!”

            Oh jeez, that sounded oddly human. And regrettably familiar.

            “Come at me you floaty see-through lizard!” The boy said. “I’ll tear ya apart!” The boy sounded horribly familiar, but Max didn’t want his suspicions to be confirmed.

            “Dude...” Max simply said.

            “Uh.” The boy muttered. There was a blinding fire for a minute, but Max was able to see his face more clearly. The boy had gray spectral energy flowing through him, and Max knew from experience, the dumb gas mainly came from stress. Next, the boy had fire coming out of his hands. Like actually out of his hands. If that doesn’t absolutely prove that he was a spectral, Max wouldn’t know what will. Lastly, the boy was so familiar, because in most of Max’s classes in middle school. He was so familiar, because he was the town bully. He was familiar, because his name was Johnny.

            “Wh… Max?” Johnny had asked, probably to himself. “What are you doing ‘ere?”

            “I think I have more credence to ask that, due to the fact that you have literally no reason to be here and you have fire _expelling from your hands_.”

            “I followed sunglasses teacher here?” He had asked as if it wasn’t at all weird to follow someone. “Why are _you_ here?” He asked suspiciously.

            “I came with ‘sunglasses teacher’.” He said. “Okay my turn for questions. When did the whole ‘seeing ghosts thing’ start with you?”

            “Hold the phone; you can see them too? Those weird shaped things are supposed t’be ghosts? An’ does everyone have the fire thing? ” He had waved his hand trying to emphasis his point.

            “Whoa slow down there cowboy.” Max said. “No not everyone has that – okay wait how about I get you out of the woods, and we’ll get Spender to explain this to you.” Max seemed calm, but he was a bit excited. If Johnny wants to, he might be able to join the Activity Club! He always sounded annoyed when Johnny does his “Johnny thing”, but sometimes the guy has his moments. He shouldn’t be too worked up over this of course, as he has the choice to decline. “Fire powers though. That’s pretty, dare I say uh, hot.” Johnny looked genuinely confused.

            “....Max are you flirting with me?”  
            “What no! I just meant because your powers and, y’know what whatever.” He gave up once Johnny had started to look even more muddled. “Listen I’ll explain everything that’s going on later.”

            “What no I wanna know now. Why can I see ghosts?” He said.

            “Okay well. I don’t know? Listen I went through what you did pal. Just hang tight.” Max looked around, desperate to end the conversation. He was finally able to see his surroundings thanks to his friend’s new fire powers. Bugs that he didn’t know the name of crawled on the nearly pitch black trees. A small amount of colorful spirits scattered at the sight of Johnny’s light source. The phantoms seemed out of place compared to the dark and scary woods.

            “Hey hold on wait.” Johnny said, clearly puzzled. “What if the giant lizard comes back again?”         

            “Dude what are you talking about?” Max asked.

            “The lizard thing? It had this weird green gas stuff comin’ off of it?” He said. Normally, Max would say, “oh he’s crazy”, but this made sense. His mission was to find a spirit with green spectral energy. Maybe he wasn’t looking for just any kind of spirit, but a specific one.

            “Okay wait what you probably saw was a spirit.” Max explained.

            “What? You told me those were ghosts?” He asked his fire still crackling in his hand.

            “Yeah no. Some are spirits.” He had explained. “Okay the green stuff? That’s spectral energy. That comes from things like ghosts and spirits.” Max said finally giving up on waiting for him.

            “Okay so this gray stuff coming from me. Does that mean I’m like dead or…?”        

            “Not exactly? You’re basically both alive and dead at the same time.”

            “…A zombie.”

            “That’s what I said!” Max exclaimed. “Wait we’re getting sidetracked. The lizard thing. What did it look like?”

            “I mean... It looked like a lizard, Max”

            “Okay well duh. How big was--”

            “Wait shh!”  Johnny cut him off by putting a hand on his mouth. Max was tired of getting interrupted, but he heard something as well. It was getting louder and closer to them. They were footsteps, pounding almost rhythmically on the ground. As it got closer, Max began to see a shadowed figure beyond the trees. The closer it came, the bigger it seemed. Its green gas was emitting clearly, its sharp teeth becoming more defined. Johnny’s hand slowly dropped as they both stared in awe and fear of the gigantic creature.

            “T’answer your question,” Johnny said slowly. “that was how big it was.”

            “Good to know.” Max responded. The creature let out a fierce roar, and in almost an instant they were off. Johnny’s fire flickered as they both had ran from the terrifying grudge.

            “Ooooh no!” Max yelled as they both nearly tripped on branches and twigs on the forest floor. “Keep that fire UP. If we both can’t see we’re both DEAD.”

            “Ya think I don’t know that!” He screamed back. Johnny had made an effort to keep his pitifully dull flame up, but the light slowly crackled and began to shrink. Panicking, he had shook his hand, and almost miraculously, a burst of fire appeared out of thin air, and began to rise again. The creature had roared again, and both Max and Johnny had begun to lose their breath. “What in the heck is that thing anyhow?!” He asked breathlessly.

            “Running now! Lesson later!” Max had knew it was a grudge. It could not be reasoned with, and there was no point in trying to negotiate with it. Max absolutely did not want to die like this. Of course, he remembered thinking the exact same thing in his last mission.

            “See _this_ is why I didn’t want to go on this dumb mission!” He had yelled. Johnny had looked at him for a second, and stopped running. Max skidded to a halt. “What are you doing?!”

            “We have magic powers, Max.” Johnny said with a confident smile.

            “That we’re not good at!” He had yelled. “You may think you’re all cool right now, but this is not for us to handle!”

            “Heh.” Johnny said simply. _‘There’s literally no reason to be laughing.’_ Max thought to himself. He had expected a cool line from the bully, but in an instant, he ran towards the spirit. An inner conflict stirred in Max. He would normally run away in any situation, but seeing him rush toward the grudge like that made him reconsider. Wouldn’t it be smarter to get help? No then he’d get lost and who knows what would happen to Johnny then. Groaning loudly, he followed suit.

            Johnny had thrown a small ball of fire at the spirit, actually thinking that would hurt it. All it did was make it irritated as it began to growl and drool. Johnny was confused about why it didn’t work, and barely began to realize that it slithered closer to him. It’s teeth came dangerously close to Johnny’s head, but Max had successfully blocked the attack by stuffing the bat into it’s mouth, just keeping it at bay.

            “Are you, uh, good?” He stammered. Johnny simply looked at Max with a dumbfounded look on his face, before the thing had pushed them both back off of their feet. Bat still in hand, Max had attempted to swing it at the spirit, but it grabbed the weapon with its sharp teeth and threw it away from them both. They both backed up until they had reached a large and old oak tree. Holding each other, Max and Johnny stared in fear at the large beast. It had roared and they both screamed predicting their inevitable fate.

            Lightning appeared striking the beast away from the both of them. It growled, looking at the source of the sudden lightning.

            “I leave for like, one minute…” Isaac muttered to himself as he was getting another attack ready. He blasted fog from the ground, confusing both the spirit and the two kids. The spirit couldn’t see anything, and was looking vigorously for Isaac. Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, Isaac struck the spirit with a harsh blow of his lightning from behind it, and just like that the spirit was gone. The fog had lifted, and Max and Johnny stayed in the same position, a puzzled look clearly shown on their faces.

            “Is…” Johnny asked breathlessly. “Is it dead…?”

            “It was never alive to begin with.” Isaac said coolly. “Since when did he start to see ghosts?” He had pointed Johnny. Max had shrugged. He had looked at Johnny for a second, and realizing the position he was in, they had both scrambled to get up.

            “S’what now?” Johnny asked, gray gas emitting from him.

            “We get you to safety, we tell Spender about the spirit, and we go home.” Isaac had explained.

            “Somewhere there’s explaining to me what’s happening, right?” Johnny asked.

            “Yeah probably.” They had both started walking, trying to find the exit of the forest-maze.

            “Hey later,” Max muttered. “It’ll make more sense.”

            “It’d better.” Johnny whispered.

            “You know the Activity Club?” Isaac said. “That’s us.”

            “Fighting ghosts and stuff.” Max elaborated. The three kids had climbed over a large root in the ground. Johnny seemed to be transfixed in the new world he was allowed to be a part of. Spirits crawled over the grass and twigs on the ground, while others flew in the sky just above the tree's leaves.

            “Pacifying.”

“Yeah because utterly annihilating that spirit was totally pacifying it.” Max said.

            “Mmm.” Isaac said absent-mindedly. Max guessed that Isaac still wanted to talk. He didn’t get to much earlier, though he figured it would still be on his mind.

            “Hey uh, just to let you know.” Max had began. “And don’t tell anyone I told you this, but we weren’t just clearing out for spirits and stuff. I’m pretty sure we were supposed to kill that spirit for like, Spender's weird missions.” Isaac pondered for a moment.

            “Thanks.” He said simply. Max was about to say something, but saw that Isaac had a faint smile, and had decided to leave it be.

            “Yeah and don’t tell anyone I told you, if you do, I’m totally denying it.”

            “I got it, Max.” He groaned.

            “…I am so confused.” Johnny muttered.

            “Get used to it pal, it happens often.” Max replied. Looking ahead, light was becoming less scarce. Compared to the dark and creepy forest that Max and Johnny were previously stuck in, it was a lot less underwhelming and it helped them both calm down a bit.

            “Do I gotta join your nerd joint?” He asked.

            “It’s recommended.” Isaac replied.

            “I mean if you want answers.” Max encouraged. He doesn’t even know why he wants him in the club so much, but he couldn’t help but want him to join. He turned to Johnny. “That is what you wanted, right?” Johnny looked at Max for a second, and a light tint of red appeared on his face. He had looked away.

            “Whatever man, Imma just join.” Johnny gave up. “But if it seems sketch, I’m bailin'.” Max felt giddy, but somehow managed to keep his composure.

            “Cool.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yep that was it. Sorry if it was confusing and poorly written, its mainly a rough draft. Thanks for reading!


End file.
